Lord Nev

I rate Jackson highly and think he'll eventually be something like we've never seen before, but I think the preseason games, where both were given an opportunity to ruck, showed Weideman is a far better ruck option at this stage. I would go by that rather than the fact Jackson is 2cm taller.

I agree with that. Did he seem flat to you when talking about it?

They were questions. Are you saying my questions were negative? Was genuinely asking your impression.

Yikes, did he say or imply that or give you that 'vibe'? Or more your opinion given the circumstances? Starting to worry about how we're handling this young fella.

And Jackson wasn't given a standard to reach? Just another example of double standards then if you believe that. SWYL happy to gift games to draftees, gee wiz 2020 is one wild ride.

If someone else had posted 'gift a top draft pick a few games' you would be ropable.

Mate, we don't know where the Weid is at (other than 5 goals in a scratch match) because we're gifting games to a kid who isn't ready yet. Weid has just had his first reasonably uninterrupted preseason, they've given him a clear role, he's done it well (see the preseason game where he rucked) and they're clearly refusing to play him. Not even an emergency this week. As it stands it's looking like another case of the MFC draft obsession. Why tell Weid he has to have a 'sustained period before he plays' and then turn around and tell Jackson he gets a few for free? That's what Melbourne has done for years when it was a trash club and you want them to do it again. You tell me, when has Jackson played 2 good games in a row?

But Jackson can keep getting games at senior level without performing to 'get a taste'. Double standards.

How to destroy team culture 101. 'We picked this guy to get a taste' 'But we won't pick this guy because he hasn't earned it' You of all people, the king of ranting and raving about our culture and history, should understand the damage gifting games does. Make them all earn it.

He did. Old mate Pickett posted a training report that had Weid in it, and he was doing extra work too.

Would be very lucky to get a late third rounder for a talented key forward that we've stuffed up so far.

Maybe, will depend on what happens with the key forwards in our game and if there's another scratch match for Weid. (Is there?)

Yep, fair, but I'm not using that as an example of an amazing game, I'm using it in contrast to our current impotent forwards. Weid can only play against what's there.

Nibbler had far better forward stats, including score involvements and inside 50s, than both Jones and Melksham. He was also a key part of the play that won us the game. The point is, we can't be selecting the team on potential rather than performance.

Yeah, but he also kicked 5 goals and not sure it's fair to judge his performance based on Carlton's highlights video. I'm a big Jacko fan, but he should not be playing ahead of Weid this week.

Holding off on the conditions I reckon. At this stage I think Kozzy and Hibberd for Jones/ANB and Smith. But if it's looking like a wet slog then Hannan and vB come in for Jackson and Bennell.

Feel for Weid. Felt strongly he should be picked this week and be given a run of a few games.

Appreciate the amount of work you've put in here mate. From that list, a common theme I'm noticing is interrupted careers. Whether it's injury, new players or changed/undefined roles, a lot of the players listed haven't had much continuity. For mine, I can see May and Lever being the big movers upwards. Playing together, heck playing at all, will see them gel with each other and get used to what the players up the ground are supposed to do. I highly rate both and hope that once we settle the backline and crack the whip on the mids with their running a bit more we might see a truly elite back half.

Thought the same. I know it's a different kettle of fish, but in the preseason games we did look pretty fit but so far in our two actual games we've seemed flat, so I wonder if it really is at least partly a mental thing? One thing to be able to run, another to be willing to. Think I read here somewhere that someone heard one of the players post-game saying they had 'a bit left in the tank'. That's a pretty disappointing thing to hear after the lack of run we saw in the second half.

Yep, I think to me the main thing I've noticed lacking since we added in that conservative element to our style was the spacing. Players just aren't running without the ball at the moment. It's all a bit stagnant and standing next to their man. Moving without the ball has always been my thing I bang on about and the thing I liked about the chaos ball was that it pretty much forced players to keep moving. With our increased speed and ground coverage and our apparent much improved fitness it feels like the stage should be set for a bit of a throwback to the 2018 style.

Is it possible that the head knocks have started to impact his footy? I mean, we've all kinda moved on from it in that way, but there may be impacts being felt by Gus now.

I might just add too, I didn't mean my post as a discouragement btw, I really appreciate the amount of work you put into your analysis posts, even if there's bits I don't agree with, you can't argue with the effort. Without going to broad or in-depth, what's your thoughts on us going fully back to chaos ball ala 2018 style? Feels like that was our best footy and since we've tried to add the slow down game to it we've been lost in two minds.

"Reasonably serious" quad injury in the gym apparently.

Mate, it's training, maybe they were working on something in particular? I'm as worried as you about our form and deficiencies, but this is maybe a little over the top for a 5 second clip from training.